Ryoko's Loss
by FallenDruid
Summary: Ryoko loses two of the three things in her life that keep her sane. Very, very dark, but not horror. Please read and review. I'm working on rewriting this story in narrative format, and any comments would be appreciated.


Ryoko's Loss  
  
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Pioneer and AIV. I am not  
making anymoney off of this. Please don't sue me.  
  
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY DARK FIC.  
  
  
Ryoko's Loss, Chapter 1  
  
***********************************************************************  
On board the Ryo-Ohki:  
  
Ryoko: I wonder where Tenchi is right now?  
Sasami: Silly! He's on Jurai!  
Ryoko: I know that! I...just wondered where on Jurai. Hey Sasami!  
You want to go visit your sister?  
Sasami: Yeah! You want to see Tenchi again don't you? But...ah...  
aren't you a little worried about your reception on Jurai?  
Ryoko: That was seven hundred years ago! Besides, I'm a free woman.  
Their own statute of limitations erased my Wanted file.  
Sasami: I don't know....  
Ryoko: C'mon! Ryo-Ohki! Let's go!  
  
***********************************************************************  
Approaching Jurai: Orbital Command:  
  
Radar: Sir! The Ryo-Ohki is approaching us at high speed! She's come  
back, sir!  
Command: All ships! Form into wall of battle. We must not allow Ryoko  
onto the surface of Jurai again!  
Communications: Sir! We're recieving a transmission from Ryo-Ohki!  
Command: On screen!  
Communications: Right away.  
A screen pops to life in front of the commander. On it is Ryoko.  
Ryoko: Hi! I'm sure you're all pleased to see me again. Don't worry!  
I'm not here to attack you guys again. I'm just here to offer  
my respects to Princess Aeka and Tenchi. And, I brought them  
something they forgot.  
  
***********************************************************************  
On board another ship, between Ryo-Ohki and orbital command:  
  
Comm: Lord Yugo. We're intercepting a communique from the ship  
Ryo-Ohki and Orbital Command.  
Lord Yugo: Are you sure it is Ryo-Ohki?  
Comm: Yes, sir.  
Lord Yugo: Very well. Display it please.  
A screen flares to existence  
Ryoko: .....offer my respects to Princess Aeka and Tenchi. And, I   
brought them something...  
Lord Yugo: She's here to assassinate Princess Aeka! Kill the screen.  
We don't want any betraying emanations. Warm up the weapons.  
Prepare to activate the Light Hawk wing. We will save Jurai.  
We will be heroes for all time, for our actions today.  
  
***********************************************************************  
Orbital Command:  
  
Command: Really? Wht did they forget?  
Sasami moves on-screen. Her face is unmistakeable.  
Sasami: Me, silly.  
Command: Oh...Princess Sasami...er...Welcome home.  
Ryoko: Yeah, well, Aeka decided, what with the recent unrest and all,  
that it would be better to keep the royal family a little bit  
apart. And who better to gaurd Sasami, then someone who had  
successfully penetrated Jurai's defenses all those years ago?  
Command: We will give you an...escort...to the palace. No...  
unpleasantness need arise.  
Ryoko: It better not. I have a short temper. Hey, wait a minute. You  
are still afraid I'm going to attack again aren't you! You've  
got me all wrong. I wou...  
Radar: Sir! We're picking up another ship! It's Lord Yugo's yacht....  
And he's powering his weapons!  
Command: Get me a link to Yugo! Now!  
Ryoko: What's going on?  
His white, staring face told her all she needed to know. She turned,  
preparing to order evasive action.  
Command: Ryoko! Oh Tsunami....  
It was too late. Lord Yugo's ship activated its Light Hawk wing, and  
rammed Ryo-Ohki. Ryo-Ohki's last action was to beam Ryoko and Sasami  
elsewhere. They popped out into space.  
(In Washu's Lab: The diminutive genius clutched her head in pain, as   
gales of red, red anger and thoughts of blood and death came swarming   
through her link with Ryoko. She falls onto the floor, unconscious)  
(Something is.....wrong..., Tenchi thinks. His eyes snap open, as a   
fading call echoes through his mind: Tenchi!)  
Command: Tsunami's left tit! Get me a visual, now! Med teams, to the  
launch bays. Prepare rescue vehicles!  
Communictions: We've got a link to Yugo, sir!  
Command: Put him on.  
Another screen flares to life, beside the one showing Yugo's yacht  
drifting through space, through the area once occupied By Ryo-Ohki...  
And Princess Sasami. On Yugo's yacht, sounds of celebration could be  
heard.  
Lord Yugo: Yugo, here.  
He sounded smug, and looked satisfied. His expression changed as he  
looked at the commanders face.  
Command: Do you know what you have done? DO YOU?  
Lord Yugo: I killed the criminal Ryoko.  
Command: No. You didn't even succeed in that. All you have done.....  
is kill Princess Sasami.  
Lord Yugo: Princess....Sasami?  
Command: May Tsunami have mercy on you. I don't think Ryoko will.  
Ryoko erupted from the expanding debris of her ship, blazing with   
anger. She flew directly towards Yugo's yacht, power crackling from  
her skin. Gunports opened on the yacht. Fire rained down upon  
Ryoko. Every single shot was dodged. Her hands clutch the lifeless  
body of Sasami. Ryoko reaches the yacht, her mouth open in a soundless  
scream of primal rage.  
Command: Goodbye, Yugo. May you burn in hell.  
Ryoko is glowing like a meteor falling to earth as she pierces the   
side of the yacht. On the screen the commander is watching, Ryoko  
breaks through the walls of the bridge, instantly decompressing the  
ship.  
Command: You had better be recording this.  
Communications: We have been recording, sir. All of it.  
Command: Good. King Azusa and Queen Misaki will want to see this.  
On the screen, Lord Yugo's blood is boiling. His skin is freezing.  
Within moments, the conflicting pressures equalize, and Yugos component  
parts are flash-frozen.  
Radar: Sir! Ryoko is heading towards the closest battleship, sir!  
Command: Open a link. Order them not to fire on Ryoko. Get everyone  
suited. Seal all doors, except for those on a direct path to  
sickbay. Clear that route of all personnel. And....someone  
get the Palace on the line.  
Communications: Yes sir.  
Ryoko blasts through the thin docking bay walls of the battleship.  
Hmmm. All the doors but one are closed. No targets. Move. She flys  
through the ship rapidly, following the trail of open doors, searching  
for the medbay, or a fight. She finds the medbay, where 3 spacesuited  
individuals wait for her nervously. All three have the symbol of Med  
branch on their suits, but Ryoko is notorious for not caring who her  
targets are, and now.....who knows what she might do? Their fear is   
baseless. Ryoko blasts through the open door, spots the doctors, and  
hands Sasami's lifeless body to them....then fades away.  
Communications: We've got a line to the palace, sir.  
Command: On screen.  
A uniformed flunky appearson the screen.  
Command: Get me King Azusa.  
Flunky: I'm afraid I can't do that, sir. He's in a meeting right now.  
The flunky has a superior look on his face.  
Command: I don't care if His majesty is in bed with the three ugliest  
scullions in the castle! Get him!  
Flunky: I'm sorry sir, but unless it's an emergency, he is not to be  
disturbed. And I haven't heard anything about an emergency.  
Command: Comm! Replay for this...person....a five second clip. Your  
choice of when.  
Communications(an undisguised look of contempt on his face): Right  
away, sir. Pay attention now.(to the flunky)  
The screen flashes, and begins to display 2 scenes, the one on the left  
shows Ryoko arriving and talking to the commander, and Sasami pops in  
briefly. The one on the left shows Sasami, in the operating room.  
Flunky: I...I...I'll-get-him-right-away.  
Cammand: Good.  
The flunky runs into the hall to find King Azusa. The operating room  
now dominates the screen.  
Doctor: I'm sorry sir. She was exposed to vacuum for more than 10   
minutes. Even if we could have revived her, there would have  
been massive brain damage. It is my opinion...  
Nurse: ...and that if his team...  
Doctor: That she would be a vegetable, unable to care for herself, if  
she was alive now. It's a miracle that she was intact long  
enough to get here. Was...was the person who brought her in  
really Ryoko?  
Command: Yes.  
Doctor: Her eyes....were flat and dead. If she was still here, I'd put  
her on a suicide watch. I've seen that look too many times.  
The survivor feeling that they should have died instead, or  
with...  
Radar: Sir! We've lost contact with Ryoko!  
Command: What was her last vector?  
Radar: Looks like she was shaping for the outer planets. Shall we send  
an...escort?  
Command: No. Leave her alone. But if she comes back in, alert me  
immediately.  
Azusa comes onto the screen.  
Azusa: What's all the hubbub? This useless idiot(indicating the  
flunky, who was wringing his hands) won't tell me whats wrong,  
just told me its(catches sight of the operating room, with  
Sasami lying on the table)....an....emergency. WHAT HAPPENED!  
Command: Sire, Ryoko....  
Azusa: Ryoko! Where is she! Find her and kill her! Now!  
Command: Sire! Let me finish. Ryoko brought Sasami home to visit her  
sister and Lord Tenchi. Ryoko didn't do anything to Princess  
Sasami. Lord Yugo, a minor noble...  
Azusa: Yes, yes, I know the Yugos.  
Command: Lord Yugo evidently caught the fringe of our discussion, and  
decided that Ryoko was here to assassinate Princess Aeka. So  
he kamikaze'd the Ryo-Ohki.  
Azusa: Where is Yugo?  
Command: Dead, sir. I have a tape of it, if you, and your wives, would  
like to watch it. Ryoko decompressed his entire ship.  
The commander watched as King Azusa's eyes flared with bitter   
satisfaction.  
Azusa: Where is Ryoko now? I...I would like to...thank her...  
Command: We...don't know for sure. She's still in-system, as Ryo-Ohki  
was destroyed, but she flew off, making course for the outer...  
Radar: Sir! Seismic stations on the fourth moon of the ninth planet  
are going wild! I think we've found Ryoko.  
Suddenly, in an extremely dramatic and sudden explosion, the afore-  
mentioned moon blew up, quite spectacularly.  
Command: Sire, I believe we have found Ryoko.  
Azusa: Where....where is she?  
Command: Venting, Sire. I believe it would be....wise....not to   
disturb her now. She might react in an....unpleasant....  
manner.  
Azusa: Yes...yes, you're probably right....I have to go now....and  
tell Misaki....  
The orbital command bridge crew flinched as another moon blew up, this  
one slightly larger than the last.  
  
***********************************************************************  
The Palace:  
  
Azusa enters the residential quarters of his palace. Aeka sees him.  
He's not acting like his normal, overconfident, arrogant self. His  
steps are slow, and dragging. He seems to have collapsed in around  
himself.  
Aeka: Father? Father! What's wrong?  
Azusa: Aeka. Sasami.....Sasami is dead.  
Aeka: Oh...no! It is not possible. Sasami cannot be dead. She can't  
die! There's no way.  
(In the medbay: the doctor turns around, to face his crew.)  
Azusa: It is true. Now. Leave me. I have to go find your mother.  
(In the medbay: The doctor opens his mouth to thank his crew for all  
that they had done, to tell them that it had been an impossible task..  
yet they had almost done it)  
Tenchi walks into the room. Aeka is lying in a ball on the floor,  
crying and saying "No. No. It can't be true." over and over again.  
His gaze immediately snaps to the other person in the room...King  
Azusa. Hmm. Azusa doesn't look himself...he looks crushed...absolutely  
destroyed....Oh no.....Sasami! Sasami....  
Tenchi: What! What happened? Is it Sasami? Please, someone tell me!  
Aeka: Ten...Tenchi-sama?  
Tenchi: Yes, Aeka?  
Aeka: She...she's dead Tenchi....she's dead....  
(In the medbay: The doctor doesn't say a word. He can't believe his  
eyes. Sasami was being enveloped in a cocoon of blue light)  
Tenchi: Who is dead, Aeka?  
Aeka: SASAMI! Sasami's DEAD!  
Tenchi feels those few words like a blow to the stomach...worse by far  
than anything Kagato had ever done to him...he felt like his spleen   
was being dug out of him with a dull, rusty spoon.  
(In the medbay: Sasami's body is fully enveloped in the cocoon. The  
doctors team turns around to see what has his open-mouthed attention.  
Somewhere far away, the tenth planet of the Jurai system...is blown to  
rubble as Ryoko works off her aggression and anger in the most  
destructive way possible.)  
Tenchi: Oh, Tsunami! How? How did Sasami die?  
Azusa: Ryoko...  
Aeka: Wh...RYOKO! That Daemon shall DIE!  
Azusa: No...Ryoko brought Sasami here...to visit you...she looked so  
happy....  
(In the medbay: The cocoon of light disappears...nothing is left   
behind)  
Tenchi: What happened?  
Azusa: A...A minor noble, of the Yugo family, thought that Ryoko was  
here to attack Jurai again..or something...we're not sure...  
what we do know is that he...he...kamikaze'd the Ryo-Ohki.  
Aeka: Wha? His tree...his tree shouldn't have let him do that!  
Tenchi: No....no...it's not possible...how could Tsunami let a tree  
hurt Sasami?  
Azusa: Huh. Why would Tsunami care about one little girl?  
Aeka: Beca...  
Tenchi(clapping his hand over Aekas mouth): I don't know....it just  
seems that the universe just lost one of the best people in it  
....and Tsunami should have done something about it. A point I  
mean to take up with her at my earliest oppurtunity.(Tenchi's  
eyes flare with a dangerous, hard-edged glitter)  
Azusa, in shock, doesn't notice Tenchi's momentary lapse as he stumbles  
into his private living room.  
(In the medbay: Motes of light begin to swirl over the table)  
(In Washu's Lab: The diminutive scientist rcovers, thinking "What  
could have happened?" She trys to link with Ryoko, to no avail...or is  
it? There's something there, a tiny light flickering in the vast  
darkness that had once been Ryoko's mind. Washu tenderly gathered the  
flickering shards of Ryokos mind and sanity to herself...)  
  
***********************************************************************  
Orbital Command:  
  
Radar: Nothings blown up for awhile, sir. Do you think we should check  
on her?  
Command: Hmmm....yes. Send a destroyer out there. Hopefully, she's in  
a better mood now. But tell them to be careful, and stay  
suited up.  
  
***********************************************************************  
Palace: Azusa's Living room:  
  
Misaki and Funaho(sim): Somethings wrong, isn't it?  
Azusa: Yes...I am afraid there is...and there is NOTHING I can do about  
it. NOTHING!  
Misaki: What is it?  
Azusa(heavily): Sasami....is dead.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
End Part 1. Please send comments, criticism, ideas, suggestions, and  
anything else(except flames)to Fallendruid@yahoo.com  
  
  
Notes: In case anyone is wondering why orbital command said what he did  
to Yugo, here is a possible explanation: 1. Aeka trusts Ryoko with  
Sasami's life. 2. Sasami likes Ryoko. and finally, 3. Ryoko is  
behaving in a rational manner, and seemed fond, in words and actions,  
of both Crown Princesses and the Crown Prince.  
In case anyone is wondering, this is set in the OAV universe. 


End file.
